The note stayed under Sarah's pillow all night.
She slept with her hand over it, as if protecting something precious. And in a way, she was. This tiny piece of parchment, with its messy handwriting and rushed words, was the most precious thing anyone had ever given her.
When morning came, she didn't want to get up. She wanted to stay in bed forever, reading the note again and again, memorizing every curve of every letter.
"Your eyes are the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. I couldn't sleep without telling you."*
She read it so many times that she could recite it in her sleep. And she almost did.
Her handmaiden knocked. "Princess? You asked to be woken early."
Sarah sat up quickly, hiding the note under her blanket. "Come in."
The door opened and Lena entered, carrying a tray with fresh bread, fruit, and a cup of warm tea. Lena was young, only a few years older than Sarah, with kind brown eyes and a quiet way of moving. She had been Sarah's handmaiden since Sarah's mother died, and she was the closest thing Sarah had to a friend in this cold castle.
"You look different this morning," Lena said, setting the tray on the small table by the window.
"Different how?"
"Peaceful. Happy." Lena studied her carefully. "Did something happen?"
Sarah felt her cheeks warm. "Nothing happened. I just... slept well."
Lena's eyes narrowed slightly, but she said nothing. She had learned long ago that pushing Sarah for answers only made her close up.
"I'll draw your bath," Lena said instead.
While Lena prepared the bath, Sarah slipped the note from under her blanket and read it one more time. Then she folded it carefully and placed it in the small wooden box where she kept her mother's letters. It was the safest place she knew.
The bath was warm and fragrant with rose oil. Sarah let herself sink into the water, closing her eyes, and for the first time in years, she allowed herself to dream.
She dreamed of green eyes and golden hair. She dreamed of a voice she hadn't yet heard. She dreamed of hands that hadn't yet touched her.
When she finally got out, her skin was pruned and the water had gone cold.
Lena helped her dress. Today she chose a simple dress again, pale lavender this time, soft and comfortable. She didn't want to wear anything that felt like armor. She wanted to feel like herself.
"You're smiling," Lena observed.
"Am I?"
"Yes. You've been smiling all morning." Lena tied the last ribbon at Sarah's waist. "Who is he?"
Sarah's face burned. "What? No one. There's no one."
Lena laughed softly. "Princess, I've known you since you were twelve. You only smile like that when you're thinking about someone." She paused. "Is it that new knight? The blond one everyone's talking about?"
Sarah's heart stopped. "Everyone's talking about him?"
"Apparently he dropped his sword yesterday during training. Stood there staring at something for a full minute. The captain was furious." Lena's eyes sparkled with amusement. "The other knights are calling it 'the moment the great Alex lost his mind.'"
Alex. His name on someone else's lips felt strange. Intimate. Like a secret being shared.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Sarah said, but her voice was weak and unconvincing.
Lena just smiled. "Of course, Princess."
Breakfast was torture.
Sarah sat at the long table in the great hall, surrounded by nobles she didn't care about, listening to conversations that didn't matter. Her uncle, King Marcus, sat at the head of the table, his cold eyes scanning everyone like a hawk watching for prey.
She pushed her food around her plate, unable to eat.
*Where is he now?* she wondered. *Is he training? Is he eating? Is he thinking about me?*
"Niece." Her uncle's voice cut through her thoughts like a knife. "You're not eating again."
She looked up. His eyes were on her, sharp and suspicious. "I'm not hungry, Uncle."
"You said that yesterday." He set down his fork. "Is something wrong?"
*Everything is wrong. I'm in love with a knight I've never spoken to. I can't eat. I can't sleep. I can't think. And if you find out, you'll kill him.*
"Nothing is wrong," she said calmly. "I'm just tired."
He studied her for a long moment, then returned to his food. "Get more rest then. You have duties."
*Duties.* The word felt like a chain.
---
The day crawled by like a wounded animal.
Sarah attended a meeting about taxes. She sat through a lesson with her tutor. She walked through the gardens with a group of visiting noblewomen who talked endlessly about dresses and weddings and men she didn't know.
All she could think about was night.
Would he come again? Would there be another note? Another rose?
She found herself looking at the training yard every chance she got. But she never saw him. The other knights trained, fought, laughed. But not him.
*Where are you, Alex?*
When dusk finally arrived, Sarah thought she might lose her mind.
She ate dinner in her room, unable to face her uncle again. Lena brought her food and stayed to talk, but Sarah barely heard a word.
"You're in love," Lena said finally.
Sarah's fork clattered against her plate. "I'm not "
"You are. I've seen it before." Lena sat on the edge of Sarah's bed. "My sister was like this when she met the man she married. Couldn't eat. Couldn't sleep. Just stared at nothing and smiled." She tilted her head. "It's the knight, isn't it? Alex."
Sarah wanted to deny it. Wanted to protect this secret, this fragile, dangerous thing growing in her heart. But Lena's eyes were so kind, so understanding.
"Yes," she whispered. "But you can't tell anyone. Please. If my uncle finds out "
"I know." Lena squeezed her hand. "Your secret is safe with me."
For the first time all day, Sarah felt like she could breathe.
The night was darker than the last.
Clouds covered the moon, and the world outside Sarah's window was black as ink. She sat by the window, staring into the darkness, waiting.
Would he come in weather like this? Would he risk it?
An hour passed. Two.
She was about to give up when she saw it.
A small light, moving through the darkness below. A lantern, carefully covered so only a sliver of light escaped. It moved toward the castle wall, toward the old oak tree that grew near her tower.
Her heart leaped.
She watched as a figure climbed the tree with impossible grace. Up and up, branch by branch, until he was level with her window.
Then he jumped.
For a horrible moment, she thought he would fall. But his hands caught the stone ledge of her window, and he pulled himself up with strength that seemed almost supernatural.
Alex clung to the outside of her window, his green eyes shining even in the darkness.
"Princess," he breathed. "I had to see you."
Sarah's hands flew to the window latch. She fumbled with it, her fingers trembling so hard she could barely move them. Finally, it opened.
He climbed inside and collapsed on her floor, breathing hard.
For a long moment, neither of them moved. Neither of them spoke.
He was here. In her room. In her world.
Sarah closed the window and turned to look at him.
He was even more beautiful up close. His blond hair was damp with sweat and dew. His green eyes were wider, deeper, more alive than she had imagined. His face was young, maybe twenty or twenty-one, with strong cheekbones and lips that looked soft despite everything.
And he was staring at her like she was the sun.
"Princess," he said again, his voice rough from the climb. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be here. I know I shouldn't. But I couldn't—I had to—" He ran a hand through his hair, frustrated with his own words. "I couldn't wait any longer."
Sarah knelt in front of him. "Stand up," she said softly.
He stood.
They were close now. Close enough to touch. Close enough that she could smell him—sweat and earth and something clean underneath, like pine after rain.
"You climbed a tree," she said, a smile tugging at her lips. "To see me."
"I would climb a thousand trees." His voice was steady now, certain. "I would climb mountains. I would cross oceans. I would do anything to see you."
Her heart swelled until she thought it might burst.
"Alex," she said, testing his name on her tongue for the first time.
He shivered. "You know my name."
"I heard it. When they shouted at you yesterday." She took a small step closer. "I'm Sarah."
"I know." His voice was barely a whisper. "Everyone knows the princess. But no one knows you like I want to."
They sat by the window for hours.
Not touching. Not yet. Just talking.
He told her about his life. How his father had been a knight too, killed in a border skirmish when Alex was twelve. How his mother died of grief a year later. How he had trained alone, fought alone, lived alone ever since.
She told him about her mother. About how she died of fever when Sarah was ten. About how her uncle took over the kingdom and turned her life into a cage. About how lonely it was to be surrounded by people who only saw a princess, never a person.
"You're not alone anymore," Alex said.
Sarah looked at him. In the darkness, his eyes glowed like emeralds. "Neither are you."
He reached out, slowly, giving her time to pull away. She didn't.
His fingers brushed her cheek. Light as a feather. Gentle as a prayer.
"You're real," he whispered. "I was afraid I imagined you."
"I was afraid you wouldn't come back."
"I will always come back." His thumb traced her cheekbone. "Always."
---
The first light of dawn crept over the horizon.
Alex looked at it with panic in his eyes. "I have to go. If anyone sees me "
"I know." Sarah's heart ached at the thought of him leaving. "But you'll come back tonight?"
He stood, already moving toward the window. "Every night. Every night until I die."
He climbed onto the ledge, then paused. He reached into his pocket and pulled out something small and wrapped in cloth.
"For you," he said, handing it to her.
Then he was gone, climbing down the tree with the same impossible grace.
Sarah watched until he disappeared into the gray morning light. Then she unwrapped the cloth.
Inside was a small wooden carving. A rose, perfectly shaped, each petal carefully etched. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.
Tucked beneath it was another note:
"A rose that will never die. Like my love for you.
Sarah pressed the carving to her heart and smiled.
She didn't sleep that night either. But this time, it wasn't because she was waiting.
It was because she was loved.